Paris Prints - Blue Available Now

I am now providing prints from my monotypes. They are printed on high-quality paper with archival ink at original size unless otherwise requested (sizes vary). Contact me for prices on originals.  Prints are unmatted and unframed. Shipped flat.

Rives BFK Paper, Ink, Watercolor and Collage; 12x14 in.  Print: $40 + SH

ORIGINAL PRINT SOLD
Rives BFK Paper, Ink, Watercolor and Collage; 15x22 in.  Print: $50 + SH

Rives BFK Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Encaustic and Collage; 15x22 in.  Print: $50 + SH

Rives BFK Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Encaustic and Collage; 15x22 in.  Print: $50 + SH

Vellum, Ink and Collage Vintage French Letter; 15x24 in.  Print: $50 + SH

SEWN Lanterns

I've made two lanterns so far. I had made all my painted pattern into sewn strips a couple of weeks ago and no time to make more paper, so I have been working my way through this inventory for the various projects.

The first lantern combines four panels of the strips with some punched circles from my paper stash to embellish each side. I used embroidery floss for the top hanger and strips of fabric for the things at the bottom that hang down. I coated the four sides with beeswax just to stiffen it up a bit.

The second lantern I made used an 8" square waxed panel I had made for another art project. I cut three more squares that same size and added a fifth square of the beeswax-coated paper to the top to keep the whole thing more square. Again, this one was coated all over with the beeswax. I used the sewn paper strips for the sides.

SEWN Mat for Houses Art Piece

I've been sewing up a storm for the SEWN class with Mary Ann Moss.

I'm a bit off topic, or working larger than was requested in the class for the mat you see in the photo above. The hexagons are about 5 inches; the entire mat uses more than 100 of them to form a 4' x 4' square.

I had already planned to make these houses for an art show in the fall called "Structure" at the ARC Gallery in San Francisco.

I envisioned an installation piece, originally thinking the houses would be hung. The houses are made from prints (monotypes) I made during a class many years ago. It was the first printmaking class I ever took, and the first several prints I made were atrocious: bad choice of colors, immature composition, pedestrian design. Still, they were on really nice Rives BFK printmaking paper, so I couldn't bear to throw them out. I always figured I would cut them up, or work over them in some way. They just sat in a drawer until a project to make paper houses came up at a Women's Caucus for Art chapter meeting.

I pulled out a stack of the papers and headed to the meeting. I tore off all the white border, then folded them according to the instructions. Each plate used to make prints was a different size, so the houses all ended up being different sizes.

After I cut them to make them three-dimensional, I put them back down flat, worked them over a bit using pastels, then added a coat of encaustic wax. I used the wax to glue the ends and edges together too.

The resulting houses are rigid and smell beautiful. I made a list of all the houses I every lived in and discovered that there were 11 houses I built and 11 houses I've lived in, so I assigned an address to each house.

After I put the wax on the houses I didn't think it would be easy to hang them in a way that they stayed level so I decided to instead put them on the ground.

That's when I thought it would be great to put them on a mat and decided that mat should be made of hexagons I cut out from old maps someone gave me recently when they bought a car that has built-in GPS.

I wrote on some of the maps, and had other paper I incorporated to make a mat that was four feet wide by four feet long.

When I look down on the houses on the mat, it seems reminiscent of the view you have when you fly over the mid-west. Fields, crops, farms, lakes and green on the landscape below.

I'm ready now to submit this installation piece to some shows - ARC Gallery Structure and also DISCARTED in Ojai.

Getting Caught Up

 

I finally got my circular window piece for the SEWN class finished today.

I used some prints I made on my encaustic hotplate - it uses wax printed onto Japanese rice paper. I love that it is already starting to be very transparent, even more than vellum.

I boo-booed and stitched those pieces all together in strips, rather than just cutting out the wedges from the paper. But I didn't let that stop me - I put them all into a circle and then ran out beore it was to the end, so I used one last print I'd made for the last section.

That sort of goes with my always wanting to collage in a piece of art, so it worked for me.

You can't tell in the photo, but I left the threads long in the middle, like Mary Ann suggested. I like how it looks.

Going Three-D

I am on a roll with this SEWN class! I made some paper houses for an upcoming show I want to submit to called Structure. Here's one of them:

That got me thinking about using the SEWN paper to go three-D somehow. I had some waxed 8x8s from an array I did for a show in May 2012 called ***love***desire***relationship***. They were just sitting all hooked together in a drawer.

They tell the story of Ursula, who repurposes junk from dumpsters in SF into art, then gives it away. She is saved from her potential homelessness by being made Executive Director of a huge foundation to give away art called the Art for Everyone Project.

Anywhooo, the panels from this piece caught my eye and I figured I could use them in this SEWN art. I incorporated one yesterday in a flat collage:

Then, I though I could make some cubes out of the panels with the SEWN paper. I sewed most of it together on the machine, then finished what wouldn't fit by hand. Then, a light coat of beeswax (encaustic). This helps stiffen and protect it. It is quite durable, as long as you don't put it in a window where it gets super hot, or the car!

Collages for SEWN

A bit on fire today enjoying trying all these different things with the SEWN painted paper strips.

I'm liking having a central image - plenty of these to pull from my stash - and then surrounding them with the painted paper in various forms.

I have another idea for these that I'll execute tomorrow!

A SEWN Creation

I went to a lecture last night at the San Francisco Center for Book Art. The lectures were a bit ***yawn*** - how to tell if a book was made at a particular English abbey in the 1600s...but the examples of various books they make in summer classes was inspiring.

This project in NO WAY matches the beauty and craft that SFCBA achieves, but it is my way of combining the papers I sewed together today (yes - I sewed all of the strips!) into a new project. 

My strips made into bigger pieces.

I made a book cover to go over my little notebooks I make. The front is adorned with my favorite thing in the world - a vintage button.

I have enough papers to make LOTS of little booklets.

Front:

Back:

One More...

Okay, this is the last thing I'll create today...maybe. I'm going to an event later this afternoon, so no more time to sew.

This is another piece where I feature something I painted in the center of the reworked pattern strips that were sewn together. Boy, I am sure loving this class SEWN.

Papers before I re-jumbled them:


Final piece:

Transitioning

I was at the hospital from last Friday to Tuesday, sitting beside my step-mom's bed, watching as the palliative care did its gentle job of helping Flora transition from here to there, wherever there is.

Her family (5 kids, plus spouses, grandchildren) filled the room day in and day out with their stories of their mom, laughter, kids playing games on iPads oblivious to the miracle about to take place, food, coffee, lots of trips to the cafe and to take my dad for walks around the hospital grounds.

In between, my sister and I were playing with watercolors on small scraps of leftover paper from around my failed monotypes. The paper is luscious and accepts watercolors and paint nicely. I told my sister and others who asked that I was taking this class SEWN. One of Flora's daughters-in-law knew of Mary Ann Moss, so that was a nice point of connection. My dad married Flora when they were both 70, so I don't know Flora's family all that well.

I watched a video this morning that Mary Ann posted about the pattern-maker sisters in London, Collier Campbell. Their work is beautiful and somewhere in there, Mary Ann's video challenged us to do something different and post it, so here is mine.

I stitched together several of the little watercolors done by my sister or me, with a stack of the strips I organized last night in that same color family of blues and greens.

I am calling this piece Transitioning because it captures the time we spent with Flora in her last days, gently holding a circle of light and love around her, telling her it was okay to go.

My favorite part of this piece is the translucent white paper with the circles in it. The light comes through, like our light in life and beyond. The piece is a bit wonky and imperfect, like our lives. Stitches show through, threads not quite perfectly cut off, and little tears and gaps here and there.

I miss you Flora. You were a beautiful, loving, creative light in my life. You taught me a lot about doing my art. Thank you. May you rest in peace.

Catching Up

I'm a little behind on my assignments for SEWN due to a family emergency that had me out the better part of a week.

My fingers were itching to cut up and sew the papers I'd made last week, but I was not at home and nowhere near a sewing machine. Today I cut up the papers and scrounged through my stash of non-painted papers to see if I could add to the colors I had.

I found it easier to sort the papers into piles to be sewn by doing it while talking to my daughter on the phone. That took my mind off trying to go crazy in coordinating everything perfectly. I loosened up and just tossed things into piles and when all was said and done I had 12 groups of about 15-20 strips.



Then I followed instructions and sewed the strips together. I decided to use a straight stitch to conserve a bit on thread because my sense was the bobbin had just enough to make it through this piece.

Sure enough, about 6 inches from the end of the last two strips being sewn in, the bobbin ran out! How does it know.......?

I have eleven more piles to finish after this one. I can't wait because the sewing definitely made these into nice pieces.

Glossies for SEWN

I did some patterns for the SEWN class tonight using Acrylic Glossies. These paints are so fun. They leave a bright shiny surface. They are somewhat opaque.

I also used some metallic paints (Golden brand) and experimented more with my calligraphy pen and the Elizabethan collars. Making these help me practice my thin upstroke and wider downstroke.

Pattern Book for SEWN

 

The assignment this week in the SEWN class by Mary Ann Moss is to make a book with a cover of patterns.
I used papers I collect in a box after I do other projects. Tidbits, snippets, things I just can't quite throw away.

I chose a hexagon for the shape, then sewed the pieces I'd adhered to a piece of cardstock lightly with a glue stick.

I added some washi tape to finish the edges inside and out and also adhered a piece of see through paper to the inside just to finish it off. It is some handmade paper with a circular pattern - a bit hard to see, but I like how the sewing shows through but is also covered up a bit.

I put some vintage buttons on the string - some from my collection that I love.

Can't wait to see what is next in the class. Enjoying it a lot.